1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a personal navigation device, and more particularly, to a method of assisting a user of a personal navigation device with navigating to a destination location either by walking or by driving when the user has parked the car and is traveling by foot.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Global Positioning System (GPS) based navigation devices are well known and are widely employed as in-car navigation devices. Common functions of a navigation device include providing a map database for generating navigation instructions that are then shown on a display of the navigation device. These navigation devices are often mounted on or in the dashboard of a vehicle using a suction mount or other mounting means.
The term “navigation device” refers to a device that enables a user to navigate to a pre-defined destination. The device may have an internal system for receiving location data, such as a GPS receiver, or may merely be connectable to a receiver that can receive location data. The device may compute a route itself, or communicate with a remote server that computes the route and provides navigation information to the device, or a hybrid device in which the device itself and a remote server both play a role in the route computation process. Personal GPS navigation devices are not permanently integrated into a vehicle but instead are devices that can readily be mounted in or otherwise used inside a vehicle. Generally (but not necessarily), they are fully self-contained—i.e. include an internal GPS antenna, navigation software and maps and can hence plot and display a route to be taken.
A common usage scenario for a personal navigation device or other navigation device is to drive to a location, park the vehicle, and then walk to another location after parking. When the user wants to travel to another location, there is a high probability that the user will need to travel back to their vehicle. Moreover, the user will be traveling back to the vehicle by foot.
However, when the user has already entered another destination location into the personal navigation device and is still traveling around by foot, the navigation device will typically offer the user a route that takes the user directly from their current location to their destination location. Thus, the user still needs to find their vehicle on their own before making use of the navigation instructions given by the personal navigation device.
The conventional personal navigation device is often unable to discern that a user has switched from driving mode to walking mode, and therefore cannot offer the user optimum directions for reaching the destination location while considering that the user may wish to return to their vehicle first.